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A Cargo of Green Hearts
~POEMS~

Benediction (The Sea)

12/31/2013

 
​    if, on your way to the world
dear friend
you find yourself
shuffling your feet--
find the old dark 
brushstrokes returning,
returning  the bay of lost 
dogs, returning the steel
shiver of the empty hand,
do not be afraid
        there is always the  sea
and its rolling silver
lamps, the sea
and its hoops of horses
the sea and its cargo of
green hearts.
         even in the center of
the earth it is singing
to you; its salt
fingernails run the
drums of your vertebrae
and you are not dead
only sleeping.
         even here, the sea,
the sea presses its bellies
against the weary
stones; you feel it kick
up against your breasts
like that time
before sunset on the
dunes when your
shadow grew long, long
so long it could
reach around the earth's
hips and find your own
hands again
        tugging you again,
again into the sea,
the sea where you always
return to  yourself
your body a wet flame
your spirit a sheer
needle of sun-fire.

Tuesday 12.24.13, Christmas Eve

12/24/2013

 
all rest. let all things
stop: the train, its wheels 
frozen upon the track
the conductor pulling off his
cap to scratch his bald
head, the passengers wondering
is this my place? where is the color
of my home?
 the clouds locked
in the sky, so still
you could unravel one
woolly thread by woolly
thread, each drop of rain
dangling like an
earring, all the plants with their
invisible mouths open.
 
your thoughts, too, thudding
like a gigantic clock all this
time suddenly cease.
don't panic. find the zipper.
step a toe
then your whole foot
out of yourself. no one but
your frowns will miss you.
the ocean is hard as crystal, the fish
sleepy in their deep
beds. walk out wearing  your
best Jesus face. rest here,
something says;  come here
anytime you like.

12.23.13 Monday Poem

12/23/2013

 
      some days you find yourself 
wrestling mannequins, strangling railings
burying your head in crates of nails
cursing  the thud of your own sad 
heart.
    please stop.
there is no time like now

to duck under the backyard maple & count the 
veins on its always-spread palms, to cup your hands 
in the water of someone's voice, to indulge 
deep in the molasses of the very air. 
     it's all a
matter of perspective;
darkness is only visible when your head is full 

as a box of old newspaper. 
     burn the news.
end this war. 
let the black script cease.
feel the sun hollow you out & fill you
with its innumerable flaming lanterns.

Sunday 12.22.2013 for Solstice

12/22/2013

 
this  morning, don't expect
forever or even another
moment. all is 
tinder, all a dormant
spark for Shiva's coruscating
wheel. you're already
burnt along the edges,
friend; longing, fear,
anger just  add oxygen
to the flame. it's
enough now, at the earth's
slingshot apex, to hope
the rubber band
holds out, that orbits remain
faithful, and gravity,
lovely gravity, keeps
being its needy self.
it would be sad, really
if the earth kept going out, 
out. think on it
for more than a moment,
imagine the cold creeping
up your walls, the air
itself gone fragile as a
mirror, the sudden
betrayal of all
the invisible powers
the blind & mindless
equations that make possible
the choice, now, here 
not how long we live
but how, and what,
and if we will speak.

Friday 12.20.13

12/20/2013

 

Friend,
keep breathing
even if you are
underwater.

the sea is cruel
only to those with
clenched jaws and
fists.

release the anchor. place
your weeping
cheek upon the
pillowed waves. the sea
needs your tears
in order to go on 
being its salty self, so
don't hold back.
your suffering is a gift
to this world
a current upon which
both fish
and dreams travel.

Welcome

12/18/2013

 
Welcome to my poetry weblog. This is my first entry on my new website! I'll be posting poems to this page periodically as well as sharing notifications and other material. I hope you like what you read here. Please feel welcomed to comment, but be polite--life is too short to be mean!


    Poetry Log

    Poems  are posted here when I'm ready to share them. I often don't title my poems. The date you see above the poem may be the date it was posted here and not necessarily the date it was created.  To see more, click on the Archives below. 

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    Unless otherwise noted, all content ©Paul-William Gagnon, Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs license.
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